The MTR Corporation would like to thank Frank Lee for his letter expressing his views on the crowding situation at the MTR's Admiralty station during evening peak period ("Chance to enlarge station squandered", March 25).

We announced on March 18 that we will be adding over 300 weekly train trips on the Island Line, Tsuen Wan Line, Kwun Tong Line and East Rail Line starting from April 7 under the Listening Responding Programme.

The latest train service enhancement, together with the extra train trips added in the past two years, will bring the total number of extra weekly train trips to 1,600 since we started the programme in 2012 to reduce waiting time and ease crowding for passengers.

Most of the upcoming additional train trips will be added during the evening peak and immediate post-evening peak period.

At the same time, the smooth flow of passengers on and off trains is critical to ensuring an efficient train service. With trains arriving every two minutes on our busy urban lines during peak periods, every second counts to ensure smooth operations.

To this end, we will add an extra 300 staff this year to strengthen platform management work in stations and to assist passengers on platforms while encouraging them to move inside train carriages to make more room for other passengers. This will allow other passengers to board more easily and reduce delays caused by doors having to be reopened and closed again.

Regarding Mr Lee's comment about the additional loading that the new rail projects, namely the West Island Line and South Island Line (East), will bring to the existing system when they open for service, the relevant impact was studied during the planning stage of the new lines.

It is expected that the majority of passengers travelling on the new lines will not be travelling through the busiest sections of the existing lines during the peak period. For example, during evening peak period, the busiest sections on the Island Line and Tsuen Wan Line are from Admiralty to Causeway Bay and Admiralty to Tsim Sha Tsui respectively.

At that time, the majority of South Island Line (East) passengers would be travelling in the reverse direction towards Admiralty where they would interchange to the South Island Line to go to Southern district. Nevertheless, we will be closely monitoring the situation when the new lines are commissioned.

Kendrew Wong, media relations manager, MTR Corporation

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as MTR's latest train service enhancement will ease crowding